Senate President John Cullerton has said that the pension shortfall is not an imminent crisis, but that finding a solution can keep the state’s income taxes down.

Quinn told reporters Tuesday that solving the pension crisis is a matter of “extreme emergency.” He says there’s opportunity to solve the problem in the next few weeks. Lawmakers returned to the Capitol Tuesday.

A bipartisan committee working on reform is split over a pension plan that saves $138 billion over 30 years.

Quinn says he’s focused on pensions and declined to address the scheduled expiration of the temporary income tax in 2015 and what it could do to the state’s budget.

Lawmaker salaries

House Speaker Michael Madigan says no further legislative action is needed when it comes to lawmakers getting back their salaries.

During the summer, Quinn used his line-item veto power to slash legislators’ pay. He says he did it because they’d failed to act on reforming the state’s nearly $100 billion pension crisis. A judge disagreed with Quinn and called the move unconstitutional. Quinn is appealing the ruling, but in the meantime the state’s comptroller is issuing paychecks.

Typically, when the governor uses his veto power, lawmakers can vote to override him.

But in a Tuesday letter to the clerk of the Illinois House, Madigan says the judge’s ruling means the line-item veto has no legal effect and “is to be treated as void” from the outside.

Gun vote

A lawmaker pushing legislation to stiffen sentences for gun crimes called off action on the bill Tuesday.

Ryan Keith is a spokesman for Rep. Mike Zalewski of Riverside. He says Zalewski is still meeting with opponents of the bill with an eye toward compromise. It was scheduled for a committee hearing Tuesday.

The measure would require a 3-year prison sentence for illegally packing a loaded gun. Felons and gang members could get 10 years in prison.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made it a legislative priority because of rampant gun violence in Chicago.

But the National Rifle Association is worried that law-abiding gun owners who are in the wrong place at the wrong time could get socked with a three-year sentence.